Tourism boom gives Borders job boost

The Flying Scotsman visits Tweedbank Credit: ITV Border

The number of people working in tourism in the Scottish Borders increased by 11 per cent in one year, new figures have revealed.

The statistics, produced by Visit Scotland, show that tourism supports 4,000 jobs in the Borders, 10 per cent of total jobs in the area.

Between 2014 and 2015, the number of people employed in the sector across Scotland grew to 217,000 – with the 11 per cent increase in Scotland above the four per cent rise in Great Britain as a whole.

The 217,000 members of the Scottish tourism industry represent 9 per cent of the country’s total employment and is the highest tourism level since Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) records began in 2009.

Forty-one per cent of staff in the tourism industry work in restaurants, 24 per cent in hotels and other accommodation and 17 per cent in bars and related businesses.